In case you you just stepped off the space shuttle and missed last year’s television season, “Heroes” is NBC’s newest hit show masterminded by Tim Kring. The series follows ordinary people with extraordinary abilities and their attempts to sort out their lives and save the world.

Last season’s chief protagonist was Peter Petrelli, a male nurse who has the ability to absorb and retain the power of any other superpowered being he comes into contact with. He was relentlessly pursued by Sylar, a murderous villain who can also take powers, but only by killing other people who possess them. Throughout the season, Peter and his allies worked to prevent an apocalyptic vision in which New York was destroyed from coming true.

Noah Bennet—Adoptive father of Claire. Possesses no superpowers and once worked for the villainous Primatech Paper Co.

Alejandro and Maya Herrera—A brother and sister from Central America. Maya has a deadly power and is afflicted with a disease that kills superpowered individuals. Alejandro seems to have the ability to counteract his sister’s power.

Takezo Kensei—The legendary Japanese hero, who actually turns out to be a scumbag with the power of regeneration.

Hiro Nakamura—Son of Kaito Nakamura. Has the ability to manipulate time.

Matt Parkman—NYPD officer with the ability to hear people’s thoughts.

Nathan Petrelli—Brother of Peter Petrelli. Former politician. Has the power of flight.

Peter Petrelli—Brother of Nathan Petrelli. Has the ability to absorb and retain powers.

Micah Sanders—Son of D.L. and Niki. He has the ability to “talk” to technological devices.

Niki Sanders—Wife of D.L. and mother of Micah, with an alternate personality that possesses super-strength.

Sylar—The show’s central villain. His power is the ability to determine how things work. With this ability, he kills superpowered individuals and is able to steal their abilities.

Molly Walker—A young girl with the ability to concentrate and locate anyone in the world. Adopted by Matt Parkman.

West—A teenage boy who attends the same school as Claire. Has the power of flight and was tagged by Noah when he still worked for Primatech.

Previously on ‘Heroes’

Peter helped Ricky and his band of thieves steal money from a bookie’s office in return for a box that holds clues to his identity. Peter is currently starting a romantic relationship with Ricky’s sister, Caitlin, and likes this new life too much to open the box and expose himself to painful memories.

Alejandro and Maya continued their journey to America. Things went awry when Alejandro attempted to steal a car. He got thrown in prison, forcing Maya to come and rescue him by using her deadly power. Alejandro and Maya escaped along with a fellow prisoner, an American named Derek. He offered them a ride in his car, which he’d stolen from Claire earlier in the season.

Niki and Micah visited the grave of D.L. Niki has been stricken with the virus that targets superpowered individuals and turns to Primatech for help. She dropped Micah off with some relatives in New Orleans and then went back to New York. Primatech is willing to help her by hooking her up with Mohinder, but they’ll expect her to do something in return.

Sylar woke up to discover that the shape-shifting Candice was taking care of him for a mysterious benefactor. He still had several stitches in him after getting stabbed by Hiro and was unable to access any of his stolen powers. He killed Candice and tried to steal her ability, but wasn’t successful.

After a lot of prodding, Claire finally revealed her power to West. In return, he revealed his power and flew her around the city before landing by the beach. The two of them talked about being special and having to hide their powers. West revealed that he was kidnapped and implanted with a tracking device by “the man in the horn-rimmed glasses,” who just happens to be Claire’s father, Noah.

Mohinder began his new job working for “Bob” and Primatech. He was surprised to learn that he’ll be working in Isaac’s old apartment. When Bob is away talking to Niki over the phone, Mohinder snooped around and discovered one of the missing Isaac paintings. The painting depicted Claire standing over her dead father and embracing another figure, possibly West. Mohinder sent a picture of the painting to Noah.

Hiro used his teleportation powers to get Kensei to steal the fire scroll and unwittingly become a hero. In return, Kensei began to earn the trust of the swordmaker’s daughter. Hiro used the sword to send messages to Ando in the present, but loves the swordmaker’s daughter too much to return to his own time.

The Recap—‘The Kindness of Strangers’

Noah is still having a hard time dealing with the painting Mohinder showed him. He digs into Claire’s love life and tries to get a meeting with West, but gets rebuffed. She decides to sneak out on a late-night date with West instead of going out for dessert with her family. The two of them fly off and sit on top of the Hollywood sign for a romantic evening. Claire uses cheerleading as an alibi for her late-night activities, begging Noah to let her have one thing that makes her happy. After Claire goes to sleep, Noah meets with the Haitian about the missing Isaac paintings, which are in the Ukraine.

Molly continues to have nightmares about the “bad man” and his mysterious kanji symbol. Matt and Mohinder try to pull off their best “Two Men and a Little Lady” routine to soothe her but they don’t do very well. Mohinder questions Angela Petrelli the next day and she claims to be the one who murdered Kaito Nakamura. She sends a telepathic message to Parkman, urging him to accept the confession; otherwise the cops will dig into her history and learn about everyone with powers.

Nathan visits his children at their fancy private school and decides to shave his hobo beard. He lets his kids know that their grandmother, Angela, is in the hospital but is doing well. He apologizes for his actions as of late and promises to come home. Nathan visits the hospital and talks with Parkman about his mother’s confession. He reveals his mind-reading powers to Nathan, who recognizes the kanji symbol and the photograph it’s written upon. Nathan tries to persuade his mother not to confess, but she won’t back down. She’s too afraid of the real murderer and won’t put Nathan in danger.

Later, Nathan works with Parkman and tries to find the original photograph depicting the 12 old guard superpowered individuals. They try to use the photo to discover the identity of the killer. Most of the people in the photo are dead, but notable living members include Bob from Primatech and Parkman’s estranged father. Parkman decides to use Molly in order to locate his father, who left him at an early age.

Once Molly sees a picture of Parkman’s father, she freaks out because he’s the “nightmare man” from her dreams. Eventually, Molly agrees to help Parkman out and find his father. She finds him in Philadelphia, then passes out once the nightmare man finds her. She screams for Matt telepathically, trapped in her own mind.

Maya, Alejandro and Derek continue their drive toward America. They stumble upon a body in the middle of the road that ends up being Sylar. He’s dehydrated and near death, but still breathing. They give him a ride and Maya shows Sylar her book by Dr. Suresh, which piques his curiosity. Sylar offers to take the pair to see Dr. Suresh in New York to repay their kindness.

Derek pulls over at a little rest stop and discovers a newspaper with Maya and Alejandro in it. When he realizes that he’s driving murderers, he freaks out. When Derek goes to call the police, Sylar kills him with a brick. When Maya learns about the cops, she freaks out and starts doing her deadly eye power thing. Sylar is impressed with her powers and sympathizes with their plight. He agrees to help them and steals Derek’s car.

Micah gets acquainted with his relatives in New Orleans. Nana is in charge of the household and takes care of two other kids besides Micah. One of the kids is named Monica and has the ability to mimic abilities after she has observed them. She watches some professional wrestling and learns how to fake fight. The abilities she learns from Rey Mysterio Jr. allow her to thwart a robber at work and save the day.

‘Heroes’ Highlights

FAVORITE SCENE: MONICA DIALS 619Monica makes a killer first impression, watching masked wrestling superstar Rey Mysterio on TV and then using her ability to replicate things she has seen to execute his trademark 619 swinging kick to take out a would-be robber at the burger joint where she works! Mysterio’s freaky agility has always seemed superhuman to wrestling fans—he totally needs to guest star and lay the smackdown on somebody!—Staff Writer Ben Morse

FAVORITE USE OF SUPERPOWER: STEAL CAGE MATCHSure, Micah’s use of his technology-manipulating ability to steal pay-per-view was wrong. But charging 65 bucks for a night of “sports entertainment”? That’s the real crime.—Associate Editor Eric Moya

TIM SALE SIGHTING: ¡HOMICIDIO!Seeing as there’s only five remaining Isaac Mendez paintings left to be revealed over the course of the season, it was only a matter of time before the “Heroes” team found additional outlets for their favorite artist, and this week we got a very Sale-ian mug shot of Maya and Alejandro in a small-town paper south of the border. —Staff Writer Kiel Phegley

DEATH OF THE WEEK: DEREKWe hardly knew ya. See what happens when you steal the car of a Hero? You get a brick to the head! —Editorial Director Mel Caylo

YOUR BABY DADDYI swear I called it last season when I theorized that Matt Parkman’s baby is probably not his and is actually the child of the guy his wife had an affair with. And in this episode, I was proven right!—Editorial Director Mel Caylo

MYSTERY STILL UNSOLVED!: PETRELLI THE POLITICIANI may be the only person on Earth who’s interested in this particular story point, but Nathan Petrelli’s seeming victory in the fight for a congressional seat has yet to be addressed here in Season 2. And sure, while we’ve had plenty of drunk politicians roaming the halls of Congress before, I’m doubting the bearded brother is one of them. At least in this week’s episode we got a clue as to Nathan’s public status as well as his family status, when we saw that his kids are enrolled in a Washington, D.C., public school. Now, as to who’s in that seat and why Nathan is banned from seeing the kids…I’m betting those answers won’t be too far away. —Staff Writer Kiel Phegley

CLIFFHANGER RATING: 7They stole Molly’s brain! The best cliffhangers are ones that make you want to come back for another week of twists and turns, and this one surely has a lot to pull us back. How exactly Parkman is going to chase down a rogue consciousness is debatable, but it’s still pretty damn compelling TV.—Staff Writer Kiel Phegley

SPOILER WARNING!

Next Time on ‘Heroes’

The key to Peter’s past may be held by Elle, the new character played by Kristen Bell. Matt Parkman continues to pursue his father and may run into his ex-wife. Nathan continues to search for his missing brother and may just discover him on the old, familiar rooftop.

Surrender? SURRENDER?!

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